NEW DELHI: In a relief to homebuyers who are forced to take possession and start living in their flats without occupancy certificate (OC) because of delay on the part of builders to get all clearances from the authority, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission held that builders cannot demand maintenance charge from the buyers without OC.
The apex consumer forum held that homebuyers will be liable to pay maintenance charge for their flats only after the builder gets Occupancy Certificate from the civic authority and it is not proper for builders to demand it even though the flat buyers start residing in their flats after taking over the possession. It said if the builder fails to get OC then it means that the project is not yet fully complete and it would be considered only as “paper possession” if the flat is handed over to the buyers.
